1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communication apparatus capable of selectively operating as a master station or as a remote station in a wireless network and to non-transitory computer readable media providing instructions for such wireless communication apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
“Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Technical Specification Version 1.1” (Wi-Fi Alliance, 2010) describes Wi-Fi Direct protocols (hereinafter referred to as “WFD”) designed by Wi-Fi Alliance. A wireless network according to WFD may comprise a single device (hereinafter referred to as the “G/O device”) that operates as a group owner and one or more devices (hereinafter referred to as the “client device(s)”) that operate as clients managed by the G/O device. In the protocols disclosed in “Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Technical Specification Version 1.1,” the G/O device immediately stops operating as a G/O when the number of client devices managed thereby becomes zero. As a result, the wireless network may be immediately lost. In such a case, for example, the wireless network needs to be constructed again immediately after being lost.
The above-described problem applies not only to an apparatus according to WFD, but also to other communication apparatus, each capable of selectively operating as a master station or as a remote station.